Enchanted Night

Mr. Fox

Helen Oyeyemi2011

A novelist who kills his female characters is challenged by his own muse. The narrative shifts through various stories and layers of reality.

Same dreamlike register, still magical realism

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Tours of the Black Clock

Steve Erickson1989

A ghostwriter for Hitler's private pornography lives in a surreal version of the 20th century where history and memory blur.

Same dreamlike register, still magical realism

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Winter's Tale

Mark Helprin1983

A thief and a flying horse navigate a mythic version of New York City across a century. The prose focuses on the city's mechanics and magic.

Same dreamlike register, still magical realism

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

The Light and the Dark

Mikhail Shishkin2013

Two lovers exchange letters that transcend time and space. One writes from a domestic life while the other writes from the front lines of a war.

dreamlike → elegiac, still literary fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Rock Me

Cherrie Lynn2010

Candace visits her cousin's ex-boyfriend for a tattoo and begins a sexual relationship with him. The story focuses on their physical chemistry.

dreamlike → tender

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

The One Night Stand Before Christmas

Jana Aston

A woman has a one-night stand with a man she later discovers is her new boss during the holiday season.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Dragon on a Pedestal

Piers Anthony1983

A three-year-old princess with the power of enhancement wanders away and befriends a giant dragon. They travel a land defined by puns.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Mind's Eye

Douglas E. Richards2014

A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

dreamlike → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

The Atlantis Gene

A.G. Riddle2013

A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

dreamlike → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Monster Hunter International

Larry Correia2007

An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

dreamlike → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

The Habitation of the Blessed

Catherynne M. Valente2010

A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

Same dreamlike register

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Invisible Cities

Italo Calvino1972

Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.

dreamlike → meditative, still magical realism

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Among Others

Jo Walton2011

A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

dreamlike → tender, still magical realism

pace-1·prose-1·bleak0

Pet Sematary

Stephen King1983

A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.

dreamlike → tense

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

The Poppy War

R.F. Kuang2018

A war orphan enters a military academy and discovers shamanic powers. She leads a unit into a total war inspired by 20th-century Chinese history.

dreamlike → bleak

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Seth Dickinson2015

An accountant infiltrates the empire that conquered her home to destroy it from within. She uses economics and politics as her primary weapons.

dreamlike → cold

pace+1·prose0·bleak+2